KEVIN Maher wants Southend United to consistently match the energy on show against Charlton Athletic - starting this weekend.

Blues battled hard against the League One Addicks last time out before losing the FA Cup first round tie 4-3 in the dying seconds of extra time.

But Maher is now seeking similar standards from the Shrimpers as they resume their National League campaign at home to Yeovil Town on Saturday.

“For us the biggest challenge off the back of last week is we’ve got to repeat the atmosphere and the energy we had in the stadium,” said Maher.

“This is more important if anything and we’ve got to be bang at it to get a result.

“That includes the players, the fans and everyone.

“We get good crowds so lets make it difficult for opposition teams.

“We did that with Charlton and we’ve got to replicate that now.”

Blues were unbeaten in four games before losing their entertaining cup clash and head into tomorrow’s encounter sitting 14th in the league table.

But Maher feels things are still moving in the right direction for his side.

“I think we can take loads of positives from Saturday,” said the Shrimpers boss.

“If you were a neutral at the game you probably couldn’t tell who was in what league.

“Credit to the players in terms of how well they played.

“We took a really good League One side to the brink but you put it to bed and quickly look forward.”

The Shrimpers will therefore look to get back to winning ways against Yeovil this weekend.

But Maher is expecting another difficult afternoon against the Glovers who are seventh in the table.

“It’s a tough game because their away form has been very, very good,” said Maher.

“They’re really consistent, they’re tight away from home and very hard to beat.

“They’ve picked up some very good results but from our point of view it’s important that we keep on hitting the right level of performance like we have in the last few weeks.”